The Tomb of Hollow Hill

We set out for the Hollow Hills Tomb at the crack of dawn, as soon as Raynis came to. Mind you, he wasn’t too thrilled about returning to the tomb, but we sadly didn’t really have another option. As we had no guarantee that we would be able to return in time to help him with his next transformation. Also, if we did manage to find a cure for him, it would be in everyone’s best interest to have him close to us in order to give it to him as quickly as possible. So, he agreed to come with us on the condition that he wouldn’t have to enter the tomb unless absolutely necessary. A request that we naturally honoured.
 
It took us several hours before we reached our destination. Fortunately, it was easy to identify once we got there. For the hill had several ruins that remained at the top, with a staircase build into its side. The entrance proved more difficult to find however. We scoured the hill and the ruins from head to toe and all we managed to find was a pit standing in front of what remained of a statue depicting an elven warrior. I tried to take a look at it in order to see the insides, but even with my sight all I could see was inky darkness. Which is when Liliana surprised me by stating that she could see what appeared to be the remnants of stairs that continued down at about 100 feet. And I will admit that I was a bit taken aback by this. Between you and me, let us just chalk that one up to youthful pride. I eventually figured that this was most likely a part of the abilities that she gained from her dealings with lady Vivienne. And it actually made me a bit more curious to what others tricks she might still have up her sleeves. But we mustn’t pry, as a lady is entitled to her secrets after all.
 
With some difficulty, we rappelled ourselves down the hole. Upon the reaching the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in a circular chamber with a door in each of the cardinal directions. Dadroz immediately began inspecting each one of these, efficiently removing each trap he found along the way. Following this, we decided to open the western door first.
 
The door opened up into a large chamber containing a ritualistic altar smeared with draconic writing and blood. With various skeletons and skulls adorning the walls. Startled, a robed individual let out a cry of alarm as he unleashed a spell that engulfed us with searing flames. He then wasted no time and commanded his stone to attack us.
 
Valiantly Liliana and Allistan, assisted by Hayley’s spells, charged into the fray and proceeded to cut the golem down to size. But just as it fell, the door to the North opened, revealing half a dozen cultists surging towards us. Fortunately I had anticipated this and quickly unleashed a spell in order to entangle them with various vines in order to prevent them from swarming Hayley and me. Actually wait, I can’t say that with a straight face. While I would like it to seem that my acute tactical insight allowed me to foresee this, in reality it is only thanks to Liliana that I was able to do so. For when she took down the golem, Liliana had called out to the mage, demanding his surrender. And if she hadn’t done so, I would have simple continued attacking him as normal. But when calling for a surrender, it’s common courtesy to wait and actually give them a change to surrender. Which is why I withheld my attack, which in turn allowed me to react to the door opening.
 
Emboldened by the arrival of his allies, or simple fuelled by the power and confidence of the crazy, the mage continued his attack. Which ultimately meant that we would proceed to take them all down and capture both him and one other cultist alive. Once they were unconscious and securely tied up, we began searching the room. Luke quickly patted down the mage in order to get his hands on his spellbook and also managed to find a keyring containing four keys in the process. As for the rest of the chamber, the only other thing of note was the altar itself.
 
Being more knowledgeable about these matters, Hayley and Luke examined the altar. It seemed that originally this altar was used in order for prayers to old Elven gods, but had since been desecrated by these cultists. This had turned it into the focus for some kind of insane ritual with the goal of turning humans into dragons. But more importantly, the altar could also be used in order to undo the very curse that it inflicted. This was however sadly not possible at the moment as it required magical knowledge that we still lacked at that moment.
 
With little other options available at the moment, we decided to explore the rest of the tomb. After a quick discussion on where to go, we ended up choosing the door to the east. Inside, we discovered an old, desecrated chapel. In the center of which stood a small desk with several letters in top of it. As well as four statues of human farmers in each corner of the room. An odd artistic choice that quickly made more sense when, as Hayley approached the desk, they sprung to life and attacked us.
 
Fortunately the fight wasn’t overly difficult as we made quick work of them. There were two letters of particular interest on the desk. They were a bit of correspondences between an individual called “The Professor”, whom we later learned was the mage that we captured, and someone named Vezzir. The letters discussed the success of their ritual on a certain champion, who was apparently a chosen of Arcarost. But more worrying still was the fact that he had been send to Keralon on the 1st of Nuan in order to “restore order” and protect their interests. Meaning that we currently had some kind of fanatic in the city whom had recently undergone a ritual in order to gain the powers of a dragon. With no quick way to inform the knights of this. A silver lining however was the fact that the letters also mentioned that his transformation was still incomplete. Meaning that we might still have some time left in order to stop him. Or at the very least inform the circles of this.
 
Also of note is the fact that the letters made mention of an informant by the name of Beatrice. She had apparently informed Vezzir of the true reason for the proposed alliance between Morenthene and Keralon. And given the sensitive nature of this information, I figured, as did the others I am sure, that this must be either someone with enough high standing in court in order to become aware of this, or have access to someone who does. But as the name meant nothing to us, I made a mental note of asking Lady Colline if she might have an idea as to who this Beatrice may be.

In order to process everything, we decided to return to our captives and take a breather. And yes, I can see you staring dumbfoundedly at me, your guess is correct. We did in fact leave our captives, bound and unconscious mind you, alone and unguarded in the middle of their lair. A fact that we very quickly came to regret as not only had the altar been moved in order to reveal a small tunnel, but the mage, or professor as he was called, was also missing. A quick inspection revealed that a small creature, an imp most likely, had not only freed him but also followed him through the tunnel. And yes you are correct again, considering all the things that Fiachna had done for us over the years, we should have taken the option of a familiar into account when dealing with a mage. Look rest assured, there is nothing you can say about all of this that we did not say to ourselves as we crawled through that small tunnel in order to catch up with that damned mage.
 
We followed that tunnel for what seemed like over an hour until it finally opened up into a large underground cave. The cave was exceptionally vast, with the ceiling soaring up to 60 feet high. In fact later when we had more time, we could even see traces of the foundation of Ravensfield sticking out of the ceiling, signalling where we exactly were. As for the air in the cave, it was relatively damp. Thanks to a large lake near the centre of it. And on its shore lay the remains of the former owner of the cave. The skeletal remains of a giant dragon. Most likely either an adult Green or Black. With the mage standing next to them, in the middle of some kind of ritual.
Not exactly relishing the idea of fighting an undead dragon, I quickly took aim and hit the bastard with a blunted arrow. Knocking him out cold. And having learned our lesson, Liliana used her divine senses in order to look for the imp. But he was nowhere to be found.
 
Before venturing out into the cave, we decided to finally take that breather. Since both Dadroz and I were still feeling relatively well and energized, we took it upon ourselves to go and scout ahead. There was a slope up ahead, ascending about 30 feet, that we followed in the hopes of finding an exit. Eventuall, we reached a dead end, or at least it seemed that way. For the way was barred by various roots and vines that were holding on to a crystal. The crystal itself was marred by various cracks, looking as if it would break at the slightest touch. Suspecting that it might have something to do with magic, we decided to use the Tarnstones in order to contact Luke and get his opinion on it. Though he couldn’t really say much without actually seeing it himself. So we simple sat down and waited for them to catch up with us.
 
After about ten minutes, the imp suddenly appeared, hovering above the crystal. Not caring for whatever trickery it might have in store for us, I quickly took aim and fired an arrow at him, this time not bothering with a blunted one. And as the arrow struck centre mass, it disappeared in a puff of flames, returning to whatever abyss that had spawned it. A good thing too, as when Luke arrived he determined that the crystal was actually a key that was sealing the entrance to the cave. And breaking it would undo the magic of the seal.
 
Not having an immediate interest in doing so, we returned back to the tunnel. But not before stopping at the dark waters of the lake once more. Curious, I decided to dive in and see what might be at the bottom. Now you might be questioning the logic behind jumping into a dark lake, that was underground and in an abandoned dragon lair and I can’t blame you. But picture this. There are people out there that dream of flying through the skies, soaring with little a care in the world. And while I certainly can see the appeal of it. And would honestly give serious considerations of what price I would be willing to pay to have a pair of wings of my own. I myself am more partial to water. The simple idea of traversing the murky, uncovering long-lost secrets hidden beneath the waves. While being able to breath and move like a fish or sea serpent, is an appealing one to me. Though it is but a harmless bit of fancy. And after finding nothing but bone-chilling cold, I returned to the surface and we climbed back into that cramped tunnel once more.
 
We then went through the northern door, the one from which the cultists had stormed out. And as we might have suspected, this led to their sleeping quarters. Or rather the crypts that they had converted into sleeping quarters. Now I’m not overly religious, I mean I follow the basic teachings but I won’t really go out of my way to honour the gods. But I do find the idea of disturbing the rest of the fallen a morbid one. So I said a small prayer for these poor souls. Hoping that by clearing this tomb of intruders, we might return them to their peaceful slumber once more.
 
That left us with only the southern door remaining. And as you might guess, it led us to even more desecration. This one in the form of a sarcophagus that had been smashed to pieces and covered with the skeletal remains of various creatures. And as Liliana set one foot into the chamber, the skeletons started to swirl and form into two rough shapes. One resembling a dragon and one as a Minotaur. But they went down without any problems.
Which left us feeling rather good. Especially considering that this chamber also contained some treasures that the cultists had dismissed. One of which being a chain shirt that was made from an adamantium alloy. In the end, it was decided that the shirt would go to me. Seeing as Allistan and Liliana preferred heavier gear and Dadroz preferred being light on his feet. Though I must admit that I did feel a bit guilty about this. As it was without a doubt the most valuable piece. So I quietly hoped that the next treasure we would find would contain something for the rest of them.
 
And with that, we met up with Raynis and said our farewells to Hollow Hill and returned to Ravensfield with our prisoners in tow.